Mechanisms of stress, energy homeostasis and insulin resistance in European adolescents--the HELENA study

Background and aims Stress is hypothesized to facilitate the development of obesity, whose the foundations are already set during childhood and adolescence. We investigated the relationship between the stress-system, selected mechanisms of energy homeostasis and insulin resistance (IR) in a sample of European adolescents. Methods and results Within HELENA-CSS, 723 adolescents (12.5–17.5 years) from 10 European cities provided all the necessary data for this study. Fasting blood samples were collected for cortisol, leptin, insulin and glucose analysis. HOMA-IR was calculated from insulin and glucose concentrations. Adolescents' body fat (BF) %, age and duration of exclusive breastfeeding were assessed. For boys and girls separately, the relationship of cortisol with leptin, insulin, glucose and HOMA-IR was examined by computing Pearson correlation coefficients and Hierarchical Linear Models (HLMs), with ‘city' as cluster unit, adjusting for age, BF% and duration of exclusive breastfeeding. In boys, Pearson correlation coefficients illustrated positive correlations of cortisol with insulin ( r = 0.144; p = 0.013), glucose ( r = 0.315; p r = 0.180; p = 0.002), whilst in girls, this positive relationship was observed for leptin ( r = 0.147; p = 0.002), insulin ( r = 0.095; p = 0.050) and HOMA-IR ( r = 0.099; p = 0.041), but not for glucose ( r = 0.054; p = 0.265). Observed associations were independent of adolescents' age, BF% and duration of exclusive breastfeeding after computing HLMs. Conclusion This study suggests that the stress-system is positively related to mechanisms of energy homeostasis and IR in European adolescents, and reveals a potential small gender difference in this relationship. The hypothesis that stress might facilitate the development of obesity during adolescence is supported.